Motivational effects of smoked marijuana: behavioral contingencies and low-probability activities.

Six adult male research volunteers, in two groups of 3 subjects each, lived in a residential laboratory for 15 days. All contact with the experimenters was through a networked computer system, and subjects' behavior was monitored continuously and recorded. During the first part of each day, they were allowed to socialize. Two cigarettes containing active marijuana (2.7% delta 9-THC) or placebo were smoked during the private work period and the period of access to social activities. Three-day contingency conditions requiring subjects to engage in a low-probability work activity (instrumental activity) in order to earn time that could be spent engaging in a high-probability work activity (contingent activity) were programmed during periods of placebo and active-marijuana smoking. During placebo administration, the contingency requirement reliably increased the amount of time that subjects spent engaged in the low-probability instrumental activity and decreased the time spent engaged in the high-probability activity. During active-marijuana administration, however, the increases in instrumental activity were consistently larger than observed under placebo conditions. The decreases in contingent activity were similar to those seen under placebo conditions. Smoking active marijuana was thus observed to produce increments in instrumental activity under motivational conditions involving contingencies for "work activities."     

Effects of ethanol on reinforced variations and repetitions by rats under a multiple schedule.

Response sequences emitted by five Long-Evans rats were reinforced under a two-component multiple schedule. In the REPEAT component, food pellets were contingent upon completion of a left-left-right-right (LLRR) sequence on two levers. In the VARY component, pellets were contingent upon variable sequences (i.e., a sequence was reinforced only if it differed from each of the previous five sequences). The rats learned to emit LLRR sequences in the REPEAT component and variable sequences in VARY. Intraperitoneal injections of ethanol (1.25, 1.75, and 2.25 g/kg) significantly increased sequence variability in REPEAT, thereby lowering reinforcement probability, but had little effect on sequence variability in the VARY component. These results extend previous findings that alcohol impairs the performance of reinforced repetitions but not of reinforced variations in response sequences.     

The cognitive profile of Sotos syndrome

Sotos syndrome is a congenital overgrowth disorder, associated with intellectual disability. Previous research suggests that Sotos syndrome may be associated with relative strength in verbal ability and relative weakness in non-verbal reasoning ability but this has not been explicitly assessed. To date, the cognitive profile of Sotos syndrome is unknown. Cognitive abilities of a large and representative sample of individuals with Sotos syndrome (N = 52) were assessed using the British Ability Scales (BAS3). The majority of participants had intellectual disability or borderline intellectual functioning. The cluster score profile analysis revealed a consistent verbal ability > non-verbal reasoning ability profile. Four specific criteria were proposed as the Sotos syndrome cognitive profile (SSCP): verbal ability > non-verbal reasoning ability; quantitative reasoning T-score or matrices T-score <20th percentile; quantitative reasoning T-score < mean T-score; recognition of designs T-score or recognition of pictures T-score > mean T-score. Of the 35 participants included in the profile analysis, 28 met all four SSCP criteria, yielding a sensitivity of 0.8. The sensitivity of each of the SSCP criteria was >0.9. Individuals with Sotos syndrome display a clear and consistent cognitive profile, characterized by relative strength in verbal ability and visuospatial memory but relative weakness in non-verbal reasoning ability and quantitative reasoning. This has important implications for the education of individuals with Sotos syndrome.     

Reinforcer pathology II: Reward magnitude,reward delay,and demand for alcohol collectively relate to college students' alcohol related problems

The reinforcer pathologies model of addiction posits that two characteristic patterns of operant behavior characterize addiction. Specifically, individuals suffering from addiction have elevated levels of behavioral economic demand for their substances of abuse and have an elevated tendency to devalue delayed rewards (reflected in high delay discounting rates). Prior research has demonstrated that these behavioral economic markers are significant predictors of many of college students' alcohol-related problems. Delay discounting, however, is a complex behavioral performance likely undergirded by multiple behavioral processes. Emerging analytical approaches have isolated the role of participants' sensitivity to changes in reinforcer magnitude and changes in reinforcer delay. The current study uses these analytic approaches to compare participants' discounting of money versus alcohol, and to build regression models that leverage these new insights to predict a wider range of college students' alcohol related problems. Using these techniques, we were able to 1) demonstrate that individuals differed in their sensitivity to magnitudes of alcohol versus money, but not sensitivity to delays to those commodities and 2) that we could use our behavioral economic measures to predict a range of students' alcohol related problems.     

An experimental examination of alcohol consumption,alcohol expectancy,and self‐blame on willingness to report a hypothetical rape

This study experimentally examined the role of victim alcohol intoxication, and self‐blame in perceiving and reporting rape to the police using a hypothetical interactive rape scenario. Participants (N = 79) were randomly assigned to consume alcohol (mean BAC = 0.07%) or tonic water before they engaged in the scenario. Alcohol expectancy was manipulated, and participant beliefs about the beverage they thought they had consumed and their feelings of intoxication were measured. Alcohol consumption and expectancy did not affect the likelihood that the nonconsensual intercourse depicted in the scenario was perceived and would be reported as rape. Participants with higher levels of self‐blame were less likely to say they would report the hypothetical rape. Self‐blame levels were higher for participants who believed they had consumed alcohol, and were associated with increased feelings of intoxication. The implications are discussed.     

Feasibility,acceptability, and validity of crowdsourcing for collecting longitudinal alcohol use data

Challenges to conducting longitudinal research include financial, time, and geographic constraints. An emerging sampling method positioned to address these concerns is crowdsourcing. This study evaluated the feasibility, acceptability, and validity of collecting intensive longitudinal alcohol use data with the crowdsourcing platform, Amazon.com 's Mechanical Turk (mTurk). Participants (N = 278) recruited from mTurk provided weekly recordings of daily alcohol and soda use over an 18‐week period. Construct and external validity was evaluated using generalized linear mixed models describing associations of between‐subject (e.g., alcohol use severity) and within‐subject (e.g., day of week) variables with prospectively collected alcohol and soda use. High response rates were observed across the 18‐week period demonstrating feasibility (64.1%‐86.8%). The design was acceptable with 94% of participants indicating they were satisfied with the procedures. Multilevel models supported construct and external validity by replicating expected associations, such as more frequent and heavier drinking by individuals with higher AUDIT scores and on weekends. These effects were specific to alcohol use and did not extend to soda consumption. These data support the feasibility, acceptability, and validity of using mTurk for intensive longitudinal data collection. Future studies may leverage this platform to generate large, geographically diverse samples for prospective behavioral analytic research.     

Prototypes reflect normative perceptions: implications for the development of reasoned action theory

The reasoned action approach is one of the most successful behavioral theories in the history of social psychology. This study outlines the theoretical principles of reasoned action and considers when it is appropriate to augment it with a new variable. To demonstrate, we use survey data collected from a 4 to 17 year old U.S. adolescents to test how the ‘prototype’ variables fit into reasoned action approach. Through confirmatory factor analysis, we find that the prototype measures are normative pressure measures and when treated as a separate theoretical construct, prototype identity is not completely mediated by the proximal predictors of behavioral intention. We discuss the assumptions of the two theories and finally consider the distinction between augmenting a specific theory versus combining measures derived from different theoretical perspectives.     

Assessing gender differences in the relationship between religious coping responses and alcohol consumption

The purpose of this study is to see if the use of religious coping responses is associated with alcohol intake. In addition, tests are conducted to see if the relationship between religion and alcohol use varies by gender. Data from a recent nationwide survey (N?=?2173) indicate that greater use of religious coping responses is associated with less alcohol consumption. The findings further reveal that even though women use religious coping responses more often than men, the relationship between the use of religious coping responses and alcohol consumption is stronger for men than for women. This suggests that, with respect to alcohol consumption, men may benefit more from using religious coping responses than women. The theoretical implications of these results are discussed.